Posted October 2nd, 2008 by admin
Not all disease is predicated on chronic disharmony. We can find Hahnemann's descriptions of the nature of disease spelled out in the Organon, in aphorisms 4, 74-80, 224-226. In a nutshell, he describes several kinds of disease:
Indispositions - which do not involve a dysharmony of the dynamis, and do not require homeopathic treatment. These may be primarily somatic (§4) or primarily psychic (§224-226) in expression. They are treated by identifying "the things that disturb health, that engender and maintain disease ((Organon, §4))," and removing them - whether these are offending issues principally to the somatic or psychic operation of the organism. Indispositions may be acute, or may be "improperly called chronic ((Organon, §77))" (i.e., they may last a long time, but they do not truly have a life of their own; and are dependent on persistence of those things that engender and maintain disease).
Medicinal diseases - a special case of indisposition, in which a substance intended to be medicinal is the issue that engenders and maintains disease.
True acute disease - see most of §73. Hahnemann describes individual, sporadic and epidemic "true acute" disease, and the special case of "acute miasms"* (contagious acute epidemic diseases which are consistent enough in their repeat appearances to have gained a traditional name - e.g., chickenpox, measles, influenza). These most typically express themselves rather briefly, and if they do not kill the organism, they will be resolved under the efforts of the dynamis.
*(Hahnemann reserved the term "miasm" (which might be acute or chronic) for what he suggested to be contagia viva - diseases resulting from infection by a living organism. Although bacteria were yet to be observed/described, the notion of contagium vivum was an ancient one, and one which Hahnemann embraced well ahead of his colleagues.)
True chronic disease = chronic miasmatic disease (as opposed to "diseases improperly termed chronic", which include indispositions and medicinal diseases).
The true, natural, chronic diseases are those that arise from a chronic miasm. When left to themselves (without the use of remedies that are specific against them) these diseases go on increasing. Even with the best mental and bodily dietetic conduct, they mount until the end of life, tormenting the person with greater and greater sufferings. ... these are the most numerous and greatest tormentors of human race, in that the most robust bodily anlage, the best regulated lifestyle, and the most vigorous energy of the life force are not in a position to eradicate them. ((Organon, §78)).
Acute expressions of chronic disease - §73, last sentence of paragraph 1. These may appear to be acute in presentation, but they represent an acute flaring-up of existing chronic disease; much like the splashing flipper of a whale which might demand our attention acutely, but has its true nature as an expression of the Whale. A common example would be an acute otitis media - which tho appearing to be an acute disease, is really invariably an acute expression of tubercular miasmatic disease.
